醜しゅう女じょ

also: しこめ · ぶおんな

しゅ

う

じょ

Common wordFreq.FrequencyTop 100,000

Meanings

noun

ugly woman; unattractive woman

A direct, somewhat blunt term for a physically unattractive woman. Can be insulting; use with caution.

彼かれは彼かの女じょのことを醜しゅう女じょだと陰かげで言いっていた。
He was calling her an ugly woman behind her back.

noun

female demon

archaic

Only with reading しこめ

Archaic term for a demoness or monstrous female spirit, found in classical literature and folklore. The reading しこめ is specific to this sense.

古こ事じ記きには、黄泉よみの国くにで醜しこ女めが追おいかけてくる場ば面めんがある。
In the Kojiki, there is a scene where a female demon (しこめ) chases after him in the land of the dead.

See all 6 example sentences ›

Usage patterns

〈人ひと〉を醜しゅう女じょと呼よぶto call someone an ugly woman
彼かれは彼かの女じょを醜しゅう女じょと呼よんで傷きずつけた。
He hurt her by calling her an ugly woman.
自じ称しょう醜しゅう女じょself-described as an ugly woman (often jokingly)
私わたしは自じ称しょう醜しゅう女じょなので、化け粧しょうに気きを使つかっています。
Since I call myself unattractive, I'm careful about my makeup.

Kanji

醜ugly, unclean, shame
女woman, female

Related words

不ふ美び人じん sense 1
不美人 is a softer, more indirect way of saying a woman is not beautiful, while 醜女 is blunt and can be openly insulting.
鬼き女じょ sense 2
鬼女 refers to a female demon or ogre in folklore, overlapping with the archaic 'demoness' sense of 醜女 (しこめ).
ブス sense 1
ブス is casual slang for an ugly woman and is used more informally and directly than the somewhat literary 醜女.

Opposites

美び女じょN3sense 1
美女 means 'beautiful woman' and is the neutral standard term, directly opposite the blunt, insulting 醜女.

Don't confuse with

悪あく女じょN1
醜女 is the standard modern word for 'ugly woman', while 悪女's meaning 'ugly woman' is an archaic, rarely used sense.

Written forms

醜女Usage100%
- しゅうじょ
  Standard kanji form for the reading しゅうじょ, meaning 'ugly woman'.
- しこめ
  Archaic reading for the 'female demon' sense; rarely used in modern Japanese.
- ぶおんな
  gikun (meaning-based reading) or jukujikun
  Gikun/jukujikun reading; a non-standard way to read the kanji, occasionally encountered in older or literary contexts.
しこめ
ぶおんな
gikun (meaning-based reading) or jukujikun

Etymology

The kanji 醜 means 'ugly' and 女 means 'woman'. The reading しゅうじょ is the standard on'yomi. The reading しこめ is archaic and its derivation is uncertain, possibly related to しこ (ugly) + め (woman). The reading ぶおんな is a gikun/jukujikun reading combining 醜 (bu, from 醜い) and 女 (onna).